


The Burning of Cork

by wasureneba



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Edith is a journalist, Gen, The Irish Troubles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-24 23:29:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasureneba/pseuds/wasureneba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a journalist means that sometimes Edith is the bearer of bad news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Burning of Cork

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a gift for Allison during a fic exchange at Ravenclaw House over at Hogwarts is Home.

Edith stormed through the entry hall and made a beeline for the stairs. 

"My lady, is everything well?" Anna, carrying a vase into the library, called after her. Edith ignored the question and swept up the stairs, hat askew over rumpled hair, the hem of her dress swishing about her knees.

The sound of her heels on the carpeted halls soothed her somehow as she dashed to her room; their heavy tread was galvanizing. She tossed her hat and coat onto her bed, and slid quickly into her desk chair. She rolled up the top and pulled paper out of a drawer. She picked up her pen and, uncapping the inkwell, dipped it in. She had written only five words, though, when she dropped it down on the paper.

There were other things that needed doing first.

She smoothed her hair and dress, and went to the nursery to find him. He had little Sybil in his arms, cooing at her as she giggled. "Tom," she said, leaning against the doorframe for a moment's support.

"Edith," he said, in the distracted way that a man acknowledges someone's presence when he is absorbed in the smiles of his daughter. A glance at her face, though, had him standing up straight. "Edith? What's going on?"

"Tom---they've---"

"What is it, Edith?" he said, setting Sybil down in her bassinet and walking over. 

"God, Tom, they've burnt Cork. There was an ambush a day ago, a British Auxiliary was killed, and they---the Black and Tans, it seems---they've burnt the city centre to the ground." 

He leaned heavily against the other side of the doorframe. "How many dead?" 

"There's no reports yet---but there's been massive amounts of damage, over 300 buildings burnt, it's..."

"It's madness."

She swallowed hard. "Yes." _We have burnt down Cork, and it is madness_ , she thought, the words forming in her mind.


End file.
